a bleeding purple utah jazz blog

Jerry Sloan Eyeing Return to Coaching

At the conclusion of last season, several NBA teams approached Jerry Sloan about coaching jobs. According to Dave Checketts, one of them was the Detroit Pistons. Also according to Checketts, Jerry thought about it for a couple of days and decided that he wasn’t ready to return yet.

Jerry’s also been tied to the L.A. Clippers and New York Knicks coaching positions, though neither are necessarily vacant. If you Google “Jerry Sloan,” the autocomplete gets to work:

Jerry told the Trib’s Steve Luhm (who’s the one guy that seems to have the inside track with Jerry) that he had spoken with Bobcats ownership (i.e. Michael Jordan) about the vacant coaching position and that the two sides could meet this week. In regards to the disaster of a season the Bobcats just had and the rebuilding job that it would be, Jerry said, “It’s not always about starting at the top.” Somewhere, Phil Jackass’ ears are burning. (Trib)

Jerry also told Fox Sports Florida today (from his farm in Illinois) that he’d be interested in the Orlando Magic’s coaching vacancy (“It’d be very intriguing”) if the job was offered to him.

Jerry is still so Jerry, bless his heart:

“I worked (26) years (as a head coach). It was time for me to move on and see what was going in the world. That’s been kind of interesting. But I still have that void of basketball.”

Sloan was asked what he learned about what was going on in the world.

“Well, the sun comes up every day,” he said.

That sure sounds like a guy who got bored not coaching. And right now, he would welcome another chance to get back.

“I don’t have an agent,” Sloan said. “I don’t need for anybody to talk for me. If somebody calls me, I will listen.” (FS Florida)

Nothing earthshattering there, but Jerry’s Jerryness makes me smile.

Side Note 1: The Orlando Magic’s Senior Vice President, Pat Williams, was the GM of the Bulls when Jerry was a player. He once had this to say about Jerry:

“In all my 28 years in the league, the player I most admire is [Jerry] Sloan. I’ve never been around a greater competitor, a more focused guy, a guy who cared as much…There’s never been another Sloan. Never will be.” (longer excerpt and source here)

Side Note 2: In the days and weeks after Jerry resigned from the Jazz, his wife, daughter, long-time friend and farm caretaker, Checketts, and Gregg Popovich all predicted that he’d be back coaching. More recently, Karl Malone made the same prediction as well.

I’m a big sports fan, and I’ve always followed teams over players (particularly the Jazz, Cubs and Stars, don’t ask). The only time I’ve switched allegiances was for the season after Mark Grace left the Cubs and signed with the Diamondbacks. Even then, I still went to Cubs game, rooted for the Cubs, but if it came down to it, I wanted Grace to win more head to head against the Cubs then the rest of the organization. Him being part of the Championship that year was the best finals I’ve watched, followed closely by the Jazz in 1998. (Keep in mind, that was an EPIC World Series against the Yankees following 9/11 with 9th inning comebacks almost every game).

If Jerry comes back and coaches, whether it be the Bobcats, Magic, Lakers, Blazers, etc. I’m rooting for Jerry. I hate Michael Jordan more than any athlete in the history of sports, but Jerry was the most consistent person in my sports fandom, and him winning games, winning a championship, developing talent, etc. is where my first loyalty will be, even if it’s with the Bobcats.

I’ll still root for the Jazz, just not head to head. I don’t know if it makes me a bad fan, but that’s where my loyalties lie.